In the field of goods transport, a pallet, dunnage platform or skid is a flat transport structure which supports goods in a stable fashion while being capable of being lifted by a forklift or other jacking device. Crates, boxes and slatted compartment are packaging containers which may be used in conjunction with pallets or as individual items which are capable of being lifted and transported in the same manner as pallets. Both pallets and crates may be made from either timber, plastic, polystyrene, composite plastic, cardboard, metal or composite materials.
Pallet and crate production may be divided into three main categories in order of volume of production, with the greatest production of one-way transport, single use pallets for export, fewer “in-country” warehouse-rackable reusable loop pallets and fewest product specific pallets, such as medical or food-specific pallets. The lack of a single international standard for the size and shape of pallets and crates causes substantial and ongoing expense in international trade. An international standard for all pallets is difficult to implement because of the wide variety of needs a standard pallet must satisfy, including the ability to pass through doorways of different standard dimensions, fitting in standard containers, and allowing low labour and handling costs specific to each country.
Accordingly, when a product is imported from another country it will be delivered on an export size pallet or crate, or on a pallet or crate made specifically the product. Typically the goods are transferred to a country-specific pallet once they have entered the country before shipping to the customer or being stored in a warehouse. In most cases the original export pallet will not be used for storage purposes as it will not be certified for storage purposes, for example because it does not comply with local safety standards. Thus in many cases the export pallets or crates have no other use, and are recycled, if possible, or chipped and sent to landfill as waste.
The timber pallet and crate fabrication industry takes up more than 40% of the world's consumption of natural timber from old growth and slow growth replanted forest. Six billion one-way single use timber export pallets or crates are produced and sold globally every year, with a resultant vast amount of timber being sent to waste each year.
Due to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), most timber pallets or crates which are shipped across national borders must be made of materials which are incapable of being carriers of invasive species of insects or plant diseases. Pallets which are made of untreated wood must be treated in accordance with International Standards and must be certified prior to export or arrival by either heat treatment or chemical fumigation. These treatments introduce new characteristics into the untreated wood and create further disadvantages for the subsequent re-use or disposal of the pallets.
Accordingly there is a need for an alternative to wood which minimizes or alleviates at least some of the disadvantages discussed above.